


Names Before Numbers

by Ace_of_Spades_400



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Non-Graphic Rape/Non-Con, Pregnancy, incest (frowned upon)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-03-07 00:55:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18862459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ace_of_Spades_400/pseuds/Ace_of_Spades_400
Summary: Reginald Hargreeves is not a kind man. He is not a man who cares about the world or his children. All he cares about is science. And the seven children he's acquired have much for him to discover. And it doesn't matter what they have to say about it.





	1. Confusing Beginnings- Vanya

Vanya is fifteen, a few months shy of sixteen, when her father stops her after breakfast to demand she go to the infirmary instead of the classroom.

She sighs, expecting another grueling round of testing of her medication that’ll make her sick and near comatose for the next few weeks, but doesn’t complain or protest. It wouldn’t get her anywhere.

Her mother is waiting in the infirmary for her, soft smile on her face as she has Vanya sit on the end of the bed, taking her vitals, almost like a routine physical.

Vanya frowns at this. They all get their yearly physicals on their birthday without fail. Never before has any of them had to do it early.

“Is something wrong?” she asks her mom, watching as the woman draws multiple vials of blood from her arm.

Grace’s smile twitches on her face, “No dear, of course not. Your father just wants to run some… special tests.”

Despite herself, despite the years she’d buried everything and the walls she’d built, hope bubbles in her chest, “Is it about my powers?”

“Number Seven.” Her father stands in the doorway, usual scowl on his face, “When your mother has finished up your tests you will head to the classroom. Professor Pogo has agreed to stay behind to catch you up with the lesson. Do not keep him waiting.” Then he stalks over to the counter where the clipboard with her information is and does not say anymore.

Vanya scurries out of the room as soon as her mother gives her the ok, focused solely on the fact that her father never actually said no.

++

Things start changing after that.

They’re small changes, little things, but noticeable in their difference from their previously regimented, unchanging routine.

Vanya is no longer allowed to participate in group physical training like she was rarely allowed to do before. She is kept even further away from her siblings all day, even during class time she is not allowed to work with them. Her meals change, more proteins and calcium, less raw foods. Grace starts instructing her in yoga lessons in the afternoons.

It’s weird and she isn’t sure what to think of it.

Her siblings aren’t sure what to think either.

Luther has a stick so far up his ass that he sees any kind of attention they get from their father as a personal slight against him. He grumbles when she goes off for another round of medical testing and breaks silverware when their father informs her at dinner that she’ll have extra yoga lessons that day.

Diego is stuck somewhere between being jealous and being concerned. He’s an asshole, he always has been, but he also cares deeply about all of them (except maybe Luther) and he never likes when they get hurt. But he also thinks she’s useless and a waste of time and he hates when she gets attention that could be on him- usually mom’s.

Allison shoots her worried looks across the dining table but mostly seems to be relieved that dad’s attention isn’t on her. She smiles softly at her in hallways, lets Vanya use the bathroom in the mornings before her, and offers up her closet of non-uniform clothes as her own form of comfort.

Klaus hugs her every night before bed, a tight squeeze of his bony arms around her shoulders, cigarette and weed smoke surrounding him and then her the longer he holds tight. His eyes, long since permanently wild with drugs, wide and afraid as he squeezes her hand in passing and slips silly little drawings under her door to cheer her up. He knows better than anyone what their father’s attention can lead to.

If Five were here he’d probably demand to know what was going on. Wouldn’t stand down despite their father’s cold, harsh glare and stern voice. He wouldn’t hug her but he’d hold her hand. He’d sneak into her room at night and read his more ‘interesting’ books to help her sleep.

Ben worries his lip until it bleeds whenever she’s pulled away for testing. He slips books into her bedroom when she isn’t there, the scary, psychological horror books he hates to read but seems to ask for just because she loves them. He kicks his shoe against hers under the dinner table and comes to sit in her room when she’s practicing violin.

She’s starting to get scared.

What’s happening to her?

What’s going to happen?

She just wants to be special.

++

Vanya wakes up later than usual. Her siblings are all out of the country on a special training mission which means her schedule is looser and she gets more free time to relax.

She doesn’t bother putting on her uniform or her shoes, just pads down to the kitchen in the sweatpants Klaus gave her- that she’s pretty sure are Diego’s- and a sweatshirt she thinks might have been Luther’s before his latest growth spurt.

Mom isn’t in the kitchen when she gets there but there’s a plate piled full of food waiting for her in her usual spot at the table. She eats quickly, hoping to spend most of the day perfecting the new piece she’s been working on.

She very nearly throws her fork across the room when her father walks into the kitchen, “Number Seven.”

Reginald never stays home when the others are on a mission. He always hovers nearby, waiting to speak to the press, waiting to critique his child soldier’s every action. Even when the mission only took them down the street he was always there, so the fact that he’s here and they’re in Prague is…. Concerning.

“Good morning?” she says quietly, shoulders coming up reflexively, hands clenching on the table.

“Come along Number Seven, we have work to do.” 

He doesn’t move, just stares her down until she shoves one last bite of egg into her mouth, chugs the rest of her orange juice, and then hurries to follow him.

They go down the hall towards the unused guest rooms, down the hallways all the way to the end, to the bedroom on the corner that Vanya is pretty sure Five used to hide in when he wanted to read without being disturbed.

Mom is waiting in the room wearing her nurse uniform and a strained smile. “Here sweetheart, why don’t you put this on.” She holds out a hospital gown.

Vanya frowns, looks at her father hovering just outside in the hallway, but dutifully strips out of her pjs and into the gown. It’s loose but comfortable at least.

Grace helps her into the bed, setting her comfortably among the pillows, fluffing them up, laying her hair flat. Her smile feels wrong. “Mom, what’s wrong?”

Her mom’s fingers run through her hair, and they twitch ever so slightly, “Nothing dear… Nothing at all. Now, lay still, it’s time to put you under.”

Under? That’s new. But she lies back and watches as her mother puts the IV into her arm, breathing deeply and counting backwards.

Seven- Her mother pets her hair again, something sad in her eyes.

Six- The door opens and her father steps into the room.

Five- Her mother’s hand stills, “Sir, are you sure about-“

Four- “Silence Grace.”

Three- He takes his coat off and lays it over the chair in the corner.

Two- He approaches the bed, standing over her

One- He smiles at her and lays his hand on her shoulder.

Then darkness.

++

Vanya wakes up to her mother petting her hair.

“Good morning sweetheart are you hungry?”

Nothing feels different or off, she’s still drowsy from the drugs but a quick check of her body as she gets dressed finds no surgical scars or incisions anywhere new.

She almost wants to ask why they did all this, but thinks better of it.

She should feel lucky her father is even giving her the time of day.

Her siblings still aren’t back so she enjoys dinner alone- because apparently she was out long enough to have missed lunch.

Grace frets over her all evening and Pogo casts her sad glances and her father is noticeably absent once more.

It’s very strange.

Her siblings are back the next day and they all clamor at the breakfast table while they wait for their father, all casting her looks of concern or jealousy.

Vanya is stopped before she takes her seat at the end of the table, “Number Seven, you shall be eating elsewhere for now.” Her father says in his cold voice.

Grace takes her by the elbow and gently leads her to one of the smaller studies that has recently been cleaned. Her textbooks and her violin are set neatly on the table, her assignments laid out on the desk. Her mom sets her food down and she sits on the plush couch and eats quietly and alone.

She is no longer allowed to see her siblings. Class time is now held in solitude in her own private study with mom. Meals are brought there to her and her violin practice is moved there as well. Her siblings are expressly forbidden from going anywhere near her.

In an extremely odd twist, she is also instructed not to take her medication.

She feels… different, without it. Lighter. Happier. Sadder too, but she supposed that must just be a side effect of not being able to talk to anyone besides mom.

The tests continue, every day her mother leads her to the infirmary and draws blood and does a urine test and checks her vitals.

Roughly two weeks into this strange new routine Vanya frowns at the date on the calendar beside her new desk and bites her lip.

Her period was supposed to start three days ago, and they always came like clockwork.

This is strange.

She wasn’t like Allison, whose constant stress from fighting crime left her period varied and inconsistent. Maybe it’s the stress of the changes? Of being off her meds?

Whatever it is she brings it up to her mom that evening during her bouts of testing.

Her mother’s cheery smile slips instantly. She gets up and stalks out of the room before Vanya can even move.

When she returns her father is with her, grinning wider than she’s ever seen him.

“Excellent Number Seven. We will begin at once.”

She frowns as he heads off and Grace comes closer, taking her hands.

“Mom what’s going on?”

Grace holds her tight, “It’s gonna be ok sweetheart. Follow me.”

They go back to the bedroom from before, this time filled up with medical equipment and monitors.

She lays dutifully in the bed despite the fear churning in her gut. 

The IV is planted back into her arm as her mother tucks her into the sheets, fluffing the pillows with an uncharacteristic frown on her face.

Time to count.

Seven- “I’m scared…” she whimpers, and the window rattles suddenly.

Six- Strange, she didn’t think it was supposed to storm today.

Five- Her father stands on her other side watching as she starts to drift off into unconsciousness.

Four- “Relax Number Seven.

Three- To Grace, “Hopefully the baby’s abilities will be more manageable than hers.”

Two- What? Baby? Powers? She doesn’t understand.

One- What’s going on? She’s scared. Someone. Help. Please.

Then nothing.


	2. Where is she? - Ben

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben worries about Vanya.

Ben is starting to think something might be wrong with Vanya.

At first, he’d just been concerned dad was going to try and force powers out of her via the kinds of torture he put the rest of them through.

He’d do anything to make sure quiet, sweet little Vanya never had to do the kinds of things they did.

But then she’d started being isolated away from them, and they’d only see her in passing in the hallways. Mom was ordered to keep guard at the door to her study during the daytime, regretfully sending each of them away any time they’d go to see her.

At night, her door and window were locked tight and the cameras in the hall monitored by Pogo, meaning there was no way he could seek his sister out to check on her.

At least in passing she seemed to be doing ok. Confused maybe, but not hurt. Not scared. 

She even looked a little brighter than usual, and she laughed a lot louder when Klaus made funny faces at her as they passed.

Of course, as soon as he thinks maybe things are gonna be ok Vanya disappears entirely.

They don’t see her in the hallways. Mom is no longer posted outside her study. Her bedroom door is left open.

It seems like Vanya’s just…. Vanished.

At dinner Klaus bites his nails bloody and stares at her empty seat and Ben’s stomach churns with something besides his own personal monsters.

Whenever Klaus went away for days on end it was because their father had locked him up in the crypt. And when Klaus came back he was always pale and quiet and cold, like a ghost, just staring blankly at walls until the life seeps back into him with his pills.

Ben doesn’t want that for Vanya. 

Their sixteenth birthday passes quickly and quietly, just like every year.

They get pancakes for breakfast even though it’s a Tuesday. They get a whole hour of playtime in the afternoon that they use playing card games. And they get their presents, identical silver wristwatches engraved with their numbers from dad, a little cross-stitch from mom, and a new book from Pogo.

(Luther always gives them all little model cars he hand-painted. Allison uses her powers to convince Pogo to buy them ice cream after lights out. Diego gives them each a knife from his collection. Klaus draws them all something nice. Five used to give them books. And Vanya wrote a song every year to perform before bed.)

Vanya does not appear at any point throughout the day and when Ben passes on the birthday card he’d made for her- like he does each of his siblings every year- his mother tucks it into her skirt with a strange look on her face.

No one will say anything but they’re all starting to get worried, even Luther, who has always been insistent that whatever their dad does to them is for the ‘greater good’.

It’s been a month and a half since Vanya vanished.

Ben has already lost one sibling, he can’t lose another.

The problem is none of them know what to do.

They don’t know where Vanya is or even if she’s still in the house. Diego suggests dad sending her away to some boarding school or orphanage- to hide her or protect her none of them want to think about.

Finding her would be difficult, as there are many rooms they simply aren’t allowed to enter and the cameras in the hallways make it difficult to sneak around and snoop. Five never had a problem doing it but well... Five isn’t here.

Allison can’t use her powers to find out either. Her rumor doesn’t work on mom and the one time she’d asked Pogo he simply said he hadn’t known where she was. She’s too afraid to ask dad, the last time she tried to rumor him he slapped her so hard she nearly bit her tongue off.

Klaus is too drunk or high to be much of any help at all, and the more time Vanya is gone the more he seems to drink. He says the house is louder without Vanya in it, as if she was somehow keeping the majority of ghosts at bay with her violin.

Ben bites his lip bloody and clutches his stomach when the beasts rumble agitatedly. They’re worried too, he knows. They like Vanya, they like all his siblings really, and whenever they’re in trouble they get antsy. When Klaus broke his jaw when they were twelve the things inside him nearly ripped out of his stomach when Ben found him at the bottom of the stairs.

He breathes deeply and tries to tell himself everything will be ok.

One day soon Vanya’s just going to show up at breakfast with her usual small smile and timid waves. That she’ll just pick up her violin and everything will continue as it had before.

It’ll be alright.

But two months turns to three, and then four, and then five and six and seven and eight, and no sign of Vanya anywhere.

Ben’s almost starting to forget what she looked like, and that sends a terrible shiver through his body.

They don’t have any pictures of Vanya in the house. None on the walls or in the photo books mom keeps.

Well, there is one that she got taken when they were fourteen and she stomped her foot until the photographer felt bad enough for her to take one. But that photo is hidden away in Vanya’s room where dad can’t find it, where none of them can find it.

How will they find her?

Where is she?

Exactly nine months to the day that Vanya vanished Ben wakes up at two in the morning to the strangest sound.

A baby’s cry.


	3. The Good Guys- Luther

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luther leads his siblings on the search, but finds something he'd never expected before.

By the time Luther gets out into the hallway most of his other siblings have already assembled outside Klaus’ room and are looking around.

“Do you think someone left a baby by the front door?” Allison asks, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she peers into the darkness of the hallway.

Klaus shivers violently, “Who in their right mind would give a baby to us?”

Luther frowns, “We should investigate. Come on.” He turns and leads the way towards the front hall, his siblings falling into numerical order in a line behind him.

It becomes abundantly clear, once they reach the front hall however, that the baby’s cries are not coming from outside.

“This way.” Diego points towards the stairs leading up towards the guest rooms

Luther’s frown deepens, especially when he notices mom isn’t at her charging station.

Where is she? What’s going on?

The five of them tip toe as quietly as they can down the hall towards the crying infant.

The door at the end is opened and light spills out into the hall, the familiar click of their mother’s heels on the hardwoods audible under the screaming of the baby.

Their father’s voice carries to them, “Prepare the sedative Grace. Should Number Seven react poorly upon waking we need to be ready.”

Number Seven?

Was Vanya in there? Why is there a baby?

Luther hurries his steps just as his sister’s voice (familiar but distantly, he can’t believe he almost forgot her voice) joins the fray, “Wha- What’s going on….Mom? Dad? Why is there….”

The hallway shakes violently, the paintings on the wall tumbling down to the floor with heavy crashes, antique vases flying off shelves to shatter on the floor. The baby’s crying gets louder and Vanya’s voice gets quieter.

Luther rushes into the room, his siblings on his tail, pushing in around him to see better, and Luther feels himself freeze.

Vanya is laid out in the bed, still under the sheets, hair wild and blown about in the wind that’s filling the room.

Medical equipment surrounds her bed, an unattached IV and unclipped heart monitors.

Their father is standing at the foot of her bed, holding onto the footboard tightly to avoid being tossed about in the wind. His face is set in a scowl, and he’s pointing angrily at Vanya.

Mom is standing over Vanya, struggling to stay standing, holding a small syringe in one hand.

By the window, a bassinet holding a small, newborn baby.

It’s so small, all pink and pudgy, still covered in the gunk of pregnancy, screaming its little face off.

“Sedate her!” Their father screams

Vanya claps her hands over her ears and screams louder, the light fixtures all shatter.

Diego pushes past Luther, drawing a knife and throwing it in one smooth motion, hitting the syringe in mom’s hand with deadly accuracy, shattering the vial and sending the sedative splashing to the floor.

Allison and Klaus both dive for Vanya, Klaus taking one of her hands away from her ears and holding it tight, squeezing, whispering soothing nonsense.

Ben rushes to the baby, standing protectively in front of it, eyeing the chaos.

Allison pets Vanya’s hair, shushing her, “I heard a rumor,” she whispers, “That you were calm.”

The wind cuts out all at once, Vanya’s breathing, still labored and panicked, slowly starts to reign itself in. Klaus crawls into the bed and wraps his arms around her.

Luther, still stuck standing in the doorway, looks around and tries to understand.

“What’s going on?” he asks, willing his voice not to waver.

Their father stands up straight and scowls, “You stupid children!” he yells, “You could have endangered all of us! Grace, fetch another sedative.”

Vanya whimpers.

Diego rushes forward to grab mom by the wrist, “Mom, stop!”

Grace hesitates, looking between Diego and Reginald.

Luther swallows, “Is that Vanya’s baby?” he nods towards the infant Ben is standing protectively in front of.

Their father rolls his eyes, “Of course it is Number One. Use your common sense.”

Allison, hands balled into fists, glares at him, “Why did she have a baby?”

He sighs, rubbing at the bridge of his nose as if they’re being stupid, “To test the affects of your abilities on infants. Is it genetic? Does it pass on? Stronger, weaker. For the sake of science, it had to be done.”

“Vanya doesn’t have powers.” Klaus whispers, but then looks around quickly at the destruction around them.

“What did you do?” Diego snarls

Reginald does not even twitch, “Number Seven was too uncontrollable. Her powers were too destructive and tied too closely to her emotions. She had to be controlled.”

“You mean drugged.” Ben hisses

“And rumored.” Allison gasps, looking down at Vanya in horror, “Oh Vanya I’m so sorry!”

Vanya clings to Allison, stuck staring in horror at the baby on the other side of the room.

“I had a baby?” she whispers, sounding lost and confused, “But…How? I was fine this morning was it-“ she swallows.

Like me, she doesn’t say. A freak of nature.

Reginald scoffs, “Hardly. We had to put you in a medically induced coma to keep the baby safe. Now, there is much testing to be done. All of you, back to bed. Grace, the sedative.”

Vanya’s breath is speeding up again, a light breeze starting to fill the room.

Luther can’t take his eyes off of the baby.

His sister’s baby.

Vanya’s baby, that she didn’t even know she was having. That dad forced her to have in the name of his experiments.

Weren’t they the good guys? Good guys didn’t do things like this.

Ben’s stance gets more defensive in front of the baby and Allison stands up straighter.

“It’s Vanya’s baby!” she hisses, “She gets to decide what happens to them. You don’t get to touch them without her permission.”

Vanya nods shakily.

Their father shakes his head in disappointment, “Enough of this nonsense. As the baby’s father I have a right to do as I please.”

“The father!” Diego yells, eyes wide, the knife he’d gotten out clattering to the floor.

The baby is still shrieking counterpoint to all of this and it’s starting to give Luther a headache.

The father? How can their dad be the father of Vanya’s baby?

Reginald nods, “For a preliminary test non-powered DNA proved a good starting point. As the only one without in this house fell to me. Believe me, I took no pleasure in the act of impregnating Number Seven.”

Vanya looks like she’s going to throw up.

Luther’s mind comes to a screeching halt.

Impregnanting?

Did…. Did their father rape her?

Vanya, quiet, sweet little Vanya who cried when they stepped on ants as kids. Vanya who played the violin so nicely. Vanya who smiled under the littlest bit of praise.

That… That wasn’t right.

“You monster!” Ben screams

Their father does not flinch, “I did what had to be done. And I will not repeat myself, all of you off to bed. Number Eight needs proper testing.”

Number Eight.

He’d already given it a number. Not even a name.

That’s…

“Mom!” Diego shouts, “Stop!”

Grace is fetching another syringe, face pulled back in pain, fingers twitching. She does not want to dot his.

Their father is making her.

Just like he made Vanya have his baby.

“Number one!” Reginald snaps, “Escort your siblings back to their rooms. I shall deal with all of your insubordination in the morning.”

Luther can’t move.

His feet are frozen to the spot.

He looks at the baby, wriggling about in its bassinet, screaming its head off. To Vanya, clinging to Klaus and Allison, terrified.

Their father raped her.

“Number one!”

Luther draws back his arm and swings.


	4. Leave - Allison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allison will do anything for her family.

Allison’s mouth drops open as she watches Luther’s fist connect with their father’s chest. Reginald flies backwards from the force of it, smacking into the wall and falling limp like a ragdoll to the floor.

For a split second, everything is quiet.

“Holy shit…” Klaus breathes, then cackles.

Luther, face gone slack with horror, stares at their father and does not move.

Allison scurries to the end of the bed so she can get a better look at the man, crumpled and so much smaller than she ever imagined.

A sick swell of satisfaction washes through her.

She turns back to Vanya, whose gone entirely still, staring wide eyed at the baby by the window.

Vanya has a baby now.

Grace finally moves, gently dislodging Diego’s grip on her and going to pick up the infant, still bloody, wrapped in a dark purple blanket.

She smiles, strained but genuine, as she approaches the bed, “It’s a girl. Do you want to hold her?”

Allison always thought they needed more girls.

Vanya looks around at her siblings and then back to the baby- her baby- eyes wide like a deer in the headlights.

She nods jerkily.

Klaus sits up and gives her space so Grace can carefully position the baby in Vanya’s arms.

“She’s so small…” Diego whispers, leaning in closer to look.

Their mother smiles, petting Vanya’s hair back out of her face, “She’s a little bit early. But since we had to do a C-section it was hard to tell when she’d be ready. Her vitals all seem to be normal and healthy for a newborn her size.”

Vanya holds her baby close, eyes so wide, so afraid, but her touch is gentle as she brings the little one up closer, “Hi…”

Ben comes to sit on the other side of the bed, looking at the baby in wonder. “What are you gonna name her?”

Vanya swallows, “Name her?”

A surge of envy washes through Allison. They didn’t have names, as babies. They had numbers. 

She pushes the thought away quickly and instead focuses on the way the baby’s wailing quiets, calms, until she’s smiling up at Vanya.

Vanya’s shoulders relax all at once and she smiles back.

Allison always wanted a baby. She’d always dreamed to have her own little family, when she finally left the Academy.

A husband, a big house with a big yard, a golden retriever with a blue bandana. And a little girl, maybe two, with her dark curls and big eyes.

(And, in her deepest dreams she let herself indulge in, Luther’s strong chin and big hands, his kind smile.)

Suddenly she feels like she’s going to be sick.

Luther….

Is this why their father never discouraged their closeness, like he did the others?

Why he always let them pair up for practice despite always being insistent on changing things up?

Why he moved Allison room next to his when they were nine?

Why he never, not once, frowned and gave them lectures on appropriate levels of affection and closeness like he had Klaus and Ben?

Was he just hoping they’d develop these feelings on their own to play into his hand? That Allison would get pregnant with Luther’s child so that he could test that?

Over her dead body.

Allison would never, in a million years, let her ‘father’ touch her children. And she won’t let him touch Vanya’s either.

So Allison takes a deep breath, shoves all those emotions and realizations and fears into a box to be examined later, and clears her throat.

“We need to leave.”

Everyone’s head snaps up to stare at her.

“What?” Ben gapes

Klaus grins, “Yes!”

Diego looks to Vanya, to dad’s body, to mom, and back again to Vanya and the baby. He nods, “W-We can’t let him hurt them.”

Allison straightens up, putting one hand on Vanya’s shoulder, “Are you ok to walk?”

Vanya sits up some more then winces. “I don’t think so.”

Grace comes closer, smiling, “I think we have a wheelchair around here somewhere. I recommend taking Vanya to a hospital.”

“Hospital?” Klaus pales, 

Vanya clutches her baby tighter, “Why?”

Grace just keeps smiling, “To run some proper tests of course, get the baby checked out.”

Allison nods, “Good idea. First, we need to pack.”

Ben jumps up, “I know where dad keeps the old trunks. I’ll grab some and start packing. Klaus’ll help.”

Klaus nods, standing quickly, pressing a little kiss to Vanya’s forehead and then the baby’s before he runs after Ben into the hallway.

Grace turns elegantly towards their father, still slumped unconscious on the floor, “Luther dear, would you mind helping me get your father to bed?”

Luther finally snaps out of his daze and moves on auto-pilot, picking their father up and throwing him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and leaves.

Allison looks to Diego and Vanya, “Diego, can you go get the wheelchair and help Vanya into it?”

Diego nods and scurries away.

Grace turns to Allison, “Sweetheart, why don’t you stay here with Vanya while I gather the babies things.”

Allison blinks, “Things?”

She nods, “Your father had some supplies readied. Formula, diapers, clothes. I’ll pack them up for you, just stay put.” Then she leaves.

Allison turns back to Vanya, wide eyed, holding her baby close. Allison sits beside her on the bed.

“How are you feeling?”

Vanya lets out a slow breath, “I… I don’t know. Scared… confused…” she looks down to her baby, “Happy. I never thought I’d have a baby.”

Allison smiles, hugging her sister close, “It’s gonna be ok Van. We’ll take care of you. And the baby.” She stops, looks at her, “What are you gonna name her?”

Vanya purses her lips, moves one arm to gently run her fingers through the thin wisps of hair on the baby’s head.

“I don’t know…”

“We’ll figure it out. Together.”

Vanya smiles at her, the biggest one Allison’s ever seen out of her smaller sister.

Allison waits until Luther returns and starts helping maneuver Vanya into her wheelchair before she grabs Diego by the wrist and drags him out in the hall.

“What?” he snaps, looking anxiously back into the room.

She knows, without even really seeing, that his eyes are tracking mom as she dresses the baby in something warm.

“We need to go to the police.”

Diego’s eyes widen as they focus back on her, “Th-Th-The police?”

She nods decisively, “We can’t let him come after us, after the baby. He needs to be put away for this, for what he’s done to all of us. This isn’t ok.”

He raped her sister.

Would he have raped her too?

Allison clenches her fists, breathes deeply twice, then lets everything out in a rush. 

Later.

Right now she needs to focus.

She’s going to make Reginald Hargreeves regret he ever touched any of them. 

She’s going to make sure he rots in the deepest pit of hell for all eternity.

No matter how many people she has to rumor to get it done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys I decided to start a tumblr.  
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/ace-of-spades-400  
> It's still pretty empty but I did have a request for you guys.  
> I need a baby name for Vanya's little one! Please go over to my tumblr and give your suggestions for baby girl names. Thanks, love ya'll and thanks for all the amazing feedback.


	5. Choking on the words- Diego

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diego and Allison meet a detective who is willing to help them take down their father.

Diego sits in the back seat of the small town car that their father had used on his outings without children, watching as Luther and Ben squabble over directions in the front.

“No the hospital is a left on Winch!” Ben is saying, pointing to the street that they are driving past.

“It’s this way!” Luther insists, the car jerking as he steps too hard on the accelerator and then remedies himself.

Diego shifts uncomfortably from where he’s squished between the door and Klaus, who has Vanya half on his lap and half on Allison’s, the baby cradled in her arms as she balances, eyes staring unfocused on the road ahead.

“Stop the car!” Allison says suddenly, and Luther slams on the breaks immediately.

Diego grips onto Vanya’s elbow and Klaus’ hand comes up to cup the baby so the two don’t shoot forward.

Luckily it is still early enough that there are few cars on the road, so they only have one person to honk angrily as they swerve around them.

“What’s happening?” Klaus asks, peering around Vanya to look out Allison’s window.

“Diego, come with me.” Allison opens her door and steps out of the car

Diego looks across the street to the building she’s seen.

The police precinct.

He nods and climbs out as well. 

Vanya finally slides off of Klaus’ lap and settles back into the seat. Her eyebrows furrow, “What are you doing?”

Diego reaches in to squeeze her shoulder, looking down momentarily as the baby squirms and lets out a little cry.

“H-He’s not gonna get away with what he did. To any of us.”

Vanya offers up a small, tremulous smile, clutching her baby girl tighter to her chest.

Allison pats her other shoulder, “You’ll be just fine, the boys will take good care of you, won’t you boys?”

“Yes!” Klaus cheers, dislodging Diego’s arm as he pushes in close to Vanya and hugs her tight.

“We got this.” Ben says from the front, nodding decisively.

Vanya’s shoulders relax and she nods.

As soon as the doors have closed Luther is driving off again, leaving Diego and Allison standing in the road alone.

He swallows, reaching out to put a hand on his sister’s elbow, “You ready for this?”

She nods, grabs his hand, and marches the both of them across the street and up the steps of the police department.

Diego looks around as they enter, at the room full of desks and the far wall where a small holding area sits, the big glass windows looking into fancy offices.

Officers and detectives mill around, some busy with paperwork or perps, others lounging around their desks talking.

Most of the room looks up when they enter and stare, which Diego understands.

It’s not even four am and two teenagers are stalled in the front door, one wearing baggy workout clothes and the other in what is very obviously the Umbrella Academy blazer.

Allison is tense beside him, shoulders back, clearly in mission mode, eyes narrowed as she scans the room for a face she finds most likely to help them.

She doesn’t have to worry because no sooner have they walked in then a middle-aged man is approaching them, eyes intent.

“You kids ok?” he asks, one eyebrow arched upwards. He looks them over curiously but doesn’t make any move to shake their hands or touch them. He’s not dressed like a cop, so likely a detective or some other high-ranking member, just what they need.

Allison smiles sharply and holds out her hand, “Allison Hargreeves, this is my brother Diego, we’re here to report our father for child abuse, neglect, and rape.”

The man’s eyebrows shoot up to his hairline and his hand move on auto-pilot to shake her hand, “Detective Patch. Come with me.”

He leads them to the back of the precinct, through a door into a small conference room with a big plush couch against the nearest wall.

Detective Patch gestures for them to sit on the couch and they go, Allison poised and too perfect, Diego rigid and too tense. The detective eyes them before dragging over one of the rolling chairs of the table and sitting backwards in it across from them.

Allison raises one eyebrow at him expectantly and Diego wishes for half of her ability to communicate so easily, “Well, are you going to help us?”

The man sighs, scrubbing one hand down his face, “I have been trying to bring that bastard down for child engenderment since you kids were twelve. Hargreeves is slippery and he has money, enough money to get people to look the other way where a few kids are concerned. But if you two are willing to work with me, I think we might have a chance.”

Allison’s mouth is stuck hanging open.

Diego swallows, “Y-Y-Y-“ he slams his fist against his thigh in frustration.

Patch just looks at him and nods, “Take your time kid.”

He takes a deep breath, “You tried to help us?”

The man sighs, “It wasn’t right, making children fight, even if those kids have super powers. I mean, that’s why we have police and firefighters and soldiers. At the very least he should have waited until you were adults.”

Diego snorts, “Or given us a choice.”

Patch’s expression darkens, and he leans forward to put a hand on Diego’s shoulder, “I promise you son, I will do everything in my power to make sure that man goes away for a long, long time.” He sits back, and Diego swallows a lump in his throat, “Now, tell me everything.”

Allison smiles, too sharp as she leans forward, propping her chin on the back of her hand in a practiced move, “You see officer, it all started in 1989 when our father bought us…”

Diego listens to her retelling, fists clenched and teeth gritted, cutting in now and then with things Allison doesn’t know- like the tank in the basement or how he hit Klaus sometimes or how much he yelled at Ben for his fear- but mostly stays silent, afraid that the words will get stuck if he speaks too much, his anger and pain overwhelming his voice.

When Allison finally gets to Vanya’s disappearance and her subsequent pregnancy- and their father’s confession to raping her- Patch’s face goes cold and dark.

“Where are your sister and brothers now?” he asks.

“Hospital.” He says, crossing his arms over his chest, “Make sure the baby’s ok.”

Patch nods slowly, “Ok, I’d like to talk to them if that’s alright, and a paternity test should be done on the baby. At the very least Hargreeves can’t avoid facing charges for the underage rape of his own adopted daughter if there’s DNA tying him to her baby.”

The least…. Because their father could still get away with the rest. Could still get away with torturing them for years and forcing them into being child soldiers. With the emotional and the physical abuse. The neglect. With forcing Klaus into drugs and Ben into silent fear of himself. For forcing Five out the door and Vanya into invisibility. For making him and Luther hate each other and making Allison the team barbie doll, toted around as a perfect child for the media.

Diego won’t let that happen.

Their father is going to pay for what he did to all of them, to Diego’s little brothers and sisters.

Detective Patch puts a hand on Diego’s shoulder as they stand, eyes so warm, smile soft, “It’s gonna be ok son.”

This is what a father should be, Diego thinks, wants, desperately.

This is the father they deserved.

Diego clenches his fists, takes a deep breath, and prepares himself for what must come next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out my tumblr and send me asks or prompts or whatever. Would love to hear what you guys have to say and get some more ideas.  
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/ace-of-spades-400


	6. An Itch Benath the Skin- Klaus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He can't leave them, not Vanya, not the baby. 
> 
> Klaus makes a decision he never should have had to.

Klaus bites his nails bloody as he watches Vanya sleep peacefully in the hospital bed, her chest rising and falling slowly, face slack with the kind of calm that only comes from very heavy sedatives.

She’d blown three bulbs when the nurse had suggested taking the baby for some tests and nearly hyperventilated in panic. Ben had suggested sedating her- for a short time- to calm her and Vanya had readily agreed, still not used to her powers.

Ben had followed after the nurse and the baby, refusing to let their niece out of his sight.

Luther had gone back to the waiting room to stand guard and wait for Diego and Allison.

Which left Klaus alone looking after his sleeping sister and dealing with the oncoming effects of withdrawal.

He hasn’t had a hit of anything since yesterday just after dinner and it had only been a couple pills. His high is fading fast and the full body itch is setting in, the shivers and the nausea starting to roll through him slowly.

He hates hospitals. There are so many dead people wandering around lost and screaming and he knows that sooner or later they’ll realize he can see them and start crowding into the room.

He could get another hit now. There’s bound to be some kind of drug sitting loose around here, or hell he could even take a hit of the sedatives that they’re giving Vanya. And he’s sure that at the very least there’s a drug dealer around the corner that’ll hook him up but…

He looks again at Vanya, his hand coming up to trace the scar he’d seen when the nurses had checked her over, from the c-section their dad had done on her to force the baby he’d forced her to have into the world.

Vanya, who had powers none of them had known about, that she hadn’t even known about, who was so scared and confused and who had spent her whole life so far doped up against her will.

She needed him.

The nurse returns with a smile, pushing the baby along in one of those clear little carts. She’s all wrapped up in pink blankets with the tiniest pink hat Klaus has ever seen on her head.

Ben trails behind them, eyes intent on the baby.

“Momma should be waking up soon.” The nurse says, parking the cart against the wall and leaning in to pick the baby up, “Do one of you want to hold your niece?”

Ben perks up and then wilts, hand coming up to cover his stomach.

Klaus swallows, sits up and nods, “Sure….”

The nurse puts the baby in his arms, carefully positioning his hands and giving him careful, quiet instructions until Klaus is holding her on his own.

He stares down at her, eyes wide, and she stares up at him with big dark eyes, just like Vanya’s. 

At least she didn’t get Reginald’s beady eyes.

“She’s so small…Is that ok?” Ben whispers, hovering over Klaus’ shoulder

The nurse chuckles, “Don’t worry, she’s not a premie, she’s just small. She’s perfectly healthy, no defects or malformities that we can detect at this stage.”

The baby smiles up at him, letting out a happy little gurgle laugh. He just about melts.

The nurse leaves quietly and Ben reaches down cautiously, one finger extended to hover over her little face.

The baby giggles again, latching onto his finger with both hands, squeezing tight. Ben’s whole face brightens.

Klaus swallows again, hands shaking on her little body, “Ben, I need a favor.”

Ben blinks at him, eyes wide, still smiling with the baby clinging to his finger, “What?”

“Don’t let me get high again.”

Ben’s stares at him for a long moment before nodding and Klaus holds up their niece, letting Ben carefully take her into his arms.

He would face a thousand screaming, miserable ghosts for her.

On the hospital bed Vanya groans, eyelids fluttering as she slowly comes awake.

Klaus leans over and takes one of her hands, smiling, “Hey you.”

Vanya blinks at him, looks slowly around the room, and finally spots her baby. She smiles, “Is she ok?”

Ben nods, “Perfect. Do you wanna….”

Vanya nods rapidly and Klaus helps her to sit up so that Ben can put her daughter in her lap.

“Have you thought of a name for her?” Klaus asks, waving a finger in her little face and watching her reach for it.

Vanya shrugs, “Not really. I don’t even know where to start.”

They didn’t have names as babies, they had numbers. Their father couldn’t be bothered to call them anything else.

It wasn’t until they were ten that their mom finally gave them names of their own, as a birthday gift.

Their baby won’t deal with that. She’ll have a name all her life. She’ll have a mom who loves her. An Aunt and Uncles who adore her. A family. A real family, like the kind Klaus wishes they had been as children.

“What feels right?” he asks, leaning his head on Vanya’s shoulder.

Vanya scrunches her nose up, looking down at he daughter. The baby smiles, gurgling as she reaches up with tiny, pudgy hands for her mom.

Vanya smiles, “Violet. I think she’s a Violet.”

“The prettiest flower!” Klaus exclaims, grinning.

He’s still shivering, itching all over. The dead are starting to creep in, their screams bouncing around his skull-

But Violet smiles and reaches for him, and Klaus can do anything for that.


	7. The Sin On These Hands- Pogo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pogo grapples with what he is and what he has done.

Pogo has been at Reginald Hargreeves side for many years, longer than Grace, longer than the children, longer than he’s had his own mind.

He has seen many wonderful things in this time, has learned as many things as he could, and been awed by the vastness of what else was out there in this world.

Reginald Hargreeves had given him so much, it was only fitting he gave as much of himself as he could to his master, to the man that made him.

But, he supposes that along with this intellect of his comes the ability to see his own failings, his own sins.

Reginald Hargreeves is a great man, but not a good one.

He is a genius, an innovator, a brilliant mind. But he is also cruel and cold and harsh.

On the morning the seven infants arrive at the manor Pogo clenches his hands on his cane and hopes desperately that children will liven up this house, will liven up his master.

There is no such luck.

He watches, instead, as these children grow into their strange and unusual powers under the harsh, unforgiving stare of a father that does not love them one bit.

He watches, always watches, as tortures are inflicted upon these small children in the name of training.

But Pogo is powerless to help them. 

He watches, silent, as seven children without names grow up in this house of horrors. He watches, guilty, as they wilt and break and shudder each day. He watches…. He watches.

Number One- so bright, so strong, with the biggest sunniest grin of all the children- turns stiff and stern, copying his father’s mannerisms and cruelty in the hopes of the vaguest hint of pride. He stands straight, shoulders shaking from lifting weights heavy enough to crush ten grown men for hours on end, and smiles thinly, glares at his siblings, and follows every rule to the letter.

Number Two- so shy, so eager to please, with an unfortunate disability that never stops him from talking to anyone that will listen- turns quiet, cold, angry. He snarls, throwing knives at his siblings even though his fingers shake, even though his siblings cry, and insists he doesn’t care about any of them. He pushes them away, all of them, and builds up walls of barbed wire that he cuts himself on.

Number Three- so bold, so happy, with a skip in her step as she walks from room to room- turns selfish and uncaring, using her rumors to get what she wants no matter the consequences, who will take fleeting, momentary happiness built on lies rather than the uncertain, coldness of her current life. She looks down her nose at her siblings, looks out the window at the world, and clenches her fists until her fingernails draw blood.

Number Four- so kind, so caring, with the ability to make anyone laugh, to make anyone forget the pain around them- breaks at his seams. The ghosts are cruel and ugly and too horrible for such a small child and they are killing him, slowly, dimming the light inside of him and no one seems to notice or care. He laughs, too loud, too bright, too wild, and he fills his body with poison for the briefest moment of peace.

Number Five- so smart, so eager, with the world at his fingertips- bristles and snarls and stomps from room to room, too good for any of them, too smart. He argues fiercely and pushes too hard to grow too fast, wanting desperately to escape until he vanishes. He leaves, without so much as a goodbye, and leaves the pieces of his family behind.

Number Six- so soft, so gentle, with a knack for curling himself up in impossible places to read whole novels until he fell asleep- collapses in on himself. Afraid of himself, of the things he can do, flinching at his own movements, scratching at his stomach with shaky fingers and whispering quiet prayers every night that the monsters will leave.

Number Seven….

Number Seven.

She had been powerful and strange. He had not been able to understand her when she was younger. They way she perceived the world was so different from himself and her siblings, for her it was sound and energy, all of it bending to her will. She had always been quiet, like a cat stalking after her siblings, hanging on the edges of their games but always welcome among them, always reaching out for a hand to hold. 

But she had been too powerful. Too strange.

The pills had taken her quietness and turned it into invisibility, from cat-like to shadow, an echo of a person, hanging around unnoticed and unwanted. Her emotions dulled to the point of non-existence, isolated from her siblings. 

And then this.

Of all the things Pogo had seen this was…

He hadn’t known. He’d told the truth when Allison had ‘asked’.

He had been told Vanya was undergoing a special procedure. Reginald had refused to say more and he had not asked.

Perhaps he’d been afraid. 

Perhaps he was just a coward.

They were children, just children, despite the powers and the training, they were kids.

But Pogo could not do anything. He couldn’t. He was just as trapped.

But he wasn’t.

He could leave the house.

He could purchase whatever he wanted.

He was not prohibited from using the phone or answering the door.

He was not watched, obsessively, his every move catalogued and calculated.

His cage had been unlocked long ago, the door left open for him.

He had simply chosen not to go. 

And then he’d done nothing.

Not for Luther and his desperate desire for love, for the pain of weights that still hurt despite being able to lift them. 

Not for Diego and his anger, the knives cutting his fingers, the words choking him as he swallowed them over and over again for fear of ridicule. The tank he screamed in. 

Not for Allison and her need to be seen, for the crumbling remains of her hope and kindness as it turned to selfishness and greed.

Not for Klaus and his addiction, for the ghosts that had him sobbing in fear and running for numbness because he could not find comfort. The mausoleum he sobbed to be let out.

Not for Five and his arrogance, the chasm of knowledge he could not fill fast enough, the bitterness and anger that sent him running. The way he’d heaved on his hands and knees after teleporting over and over and over again.

Not for Ben and his fear of himself, his slowly growing paranoia, the distance he was putting between himself and his siblings in the name of protecting them from his loosening control.

Not for Vanya and everything, the drugs, the isolation, the belittling, the baby.

Pogo had watched all of it, had helped in most of it, and had offered nothing more than a kind touch or a soft smile, a few encouraging words when he could.

He convinced himself that was enough.

That he couldn’t do more.

Not anymore.

He will not pretend any longer.

The children have left the house, hopefully for good.

He will not let them be trapped here again.

There is a knock on the front door that echoes in the empty house.

Pogo stands slowly, limping towards the front door.

Reginald Hargreeves is still unconscious in his bed. Grace is cleaning out Vanya’s hospital room.

The children are finally free.

He opens the door.

“Good morning officers, please come in.”

The detective standing at the door frowns, “Detective Patch, I’m here with a warrant for Reginald Hargreeves’ arrest.”

“Yes, I assumed. He’s this way.”

The man raises an eyebrow, “You’re not gonna stand in our way?”

The officers behind him head for the stairs when Pogo steps aside.

He sighs, “No, I do believe this is long overdue. You shall have my full cooperation.”

He will need to work on a way to free Grace from this prison next, and then maybe, finally, he’ll leave with her.

The sun is rising, it is a new day.

The Umbrella Academy is finished.


End file.
